Some Things You Should Know About Wrestling The Almighty
Jacob, Jesus, Guaranteed Disability, and You
If you’re going to wrestle with God, there’s a few things you should know. I have some experience doing so myself, but that shouldn’t be a standard for others. Scripture should lead the way. Having said that, my experience resonates with what I see in the Scriptures, and my experience has no doubt enabled me to notice what I’ve noticed.
The first thing you need to know about wrestling with God is that you can’t predict when the match will start. In Genesis 32, Jacob was preparing for an encounter with Esau, the brother from whom he’d stolen the family birthright. Jacob crosses the river Jabbok and—without explanation—we’re told Jacob sent his family on ahead while he stayed behind. Alone in the dark, God sneaks up on him. How terrifying! Imagine nothing but the light of the moon. Jacob’s tired. It’s bedtime. That’s when the ding-ding-ding of the meet begins.
The second thing you need to know is that you won’t realize it’s God you’re wrestling. At first Genesis only identifies Jacob’s opponent as a “man” (32:24). When I’ve preached this passage at my church, I’ve suggested that maybe Jacob thought it was Esau. Perhaps his brother had tracked him through the darkness ready to pounce with vengeance just when Jacob was finally alone. Either way, it’s the stuff of horror. Again, imagine fighting in the dark by a river. One wrong step and you’re waist deep. One wrong move and your head’s underwater.
Thirdly, God will cheat. For Jacob’s part, he got what he deserved. He’d been a cheater his whole life, beginning with cheating his brother out of a birthright for a bowl of red lentils (Genesis 25:29-34). To use Jesus’s words, the measure with which he measured was measured against him (Matthew 7:2). God always shows us a mirror when we square up with him.
The way God cheated was by disabling Jacob, which is the fourth thing you need to know about wrestling with God. He tapped Jacob’s hip socket—I imagine giving him a hairline fracture. So you should be warned: your body will not emerge unscathed, and maybe permanently so. Jacob limped away from the river bank ring, and in remembrance of that particular fight night, future generations of Israel never ate the hip-sinew (Genesis 32:31-32).
Those are at least some of the things you need to know if you’re going to wrestle God. If you persevere, there’s two things you’ll gain after the meet.
First, God will bless you. Which, given the defeat of a permanent disability, is a real win. Jacob told God that he wouldn’t let him go until he blessed him, which once again recalls Jacob’s past. He’d deceitfully maneuvered his way into a securing a blessing from his father Isaac after he cheated his brother out of his birthright. He went as far to put goat skin on his arms so his blind father would think it was the hairy Esau he was blessing (Genesis 27). I find it compelling that God uses Jacob’s worst impulse—his desire to secure undeserved blessing—and uses it for good. You might be surprised at the ways God uses your own worst impulses to give you what he’s desperate to give to you.
Second, you’ll get a new name. Jacob’s name was changed to “Israel” (Genesis 32:28). So a nation was born. The prophet Isaiah says this is the destiny of all God’s people. Riffing on the riverside wrestling match, he says,
But now says the Lord,
He who created you, O Jacob,
He who formed you, O Israel,
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.”
Isaiah 43:1 (ESV)
John of Patmos tells us that in the life of the world to come, the new name we will receive will come on white stone (Revelation 2:17). Probably taken from the bank of the river.
So you’ve been warned and promised from the Scriptures about what happens when you wrestle with God. But here’s the big question: should you fight in the first place? Or is it better to run?
The thing that I’ve left unsaid so far is that it seems to me that Jacob wins. He doesn’t die, as one might expect from getting attacked by a stranger in the darkness. On the contrary, he’s blessed as he goes on his way. What it means that humanity can beat God in a wrestling match is beyond me. But I think it’s worth pondering.
There’s also something of Christ to reflect on here. I’m prone two believe two things about this story: 1) that Jacob, being the father of the father of Jesus, is himself an image of Christ, and 2) that the figure who wrestles Jacob is the pre-incarnate Christ.
If we see Jacob’s wrestling as a foreshadowing of Christ, we might wonder: was Jesus humanity wrestling God? Or was he God wrestling humanity? Those of us who know Jesus know he’s both true God and true man, so there’s no either-or about it. But the fact of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection suggests to me that the only way to the kingdom is through a human-divine wrestling match. Having cheated death, Jesus emerged victorious, his stigmata (the post-resurrection wounds still on his hands, feet, and side) are a call-back to Jacob’s limp.
So, yes, I recommend wrestling. Strap on your head gear, square up, and interlock your fingers with Jesus’s. Christ wins by letting us win. He writes the name of God on each one of us (Revelation 3:12), and, just so, makes us one with him. In him, winners lose and losers win.
Love the connection of John and the white stone. There's so much intriguing stuff in Genesis 32. Good words here, man.